The following is a guest post from Adam Wilde, better known around here as Throwdown member awilde27.

Playing Fantasy Throwdown is not always about drafting the best team, as much as it is forcing your opponent to draft the worst team.

There’s a whole new animal in the fantasy football town known as Fantasy Throwdown, and being top dog in your home fantasy league is about as useful as a knife in a gunfight when it comes to Throwdown.

It is not always about drafting the best players in the NFL, as much as drafting the potential best player for the current week. Imagine the look on your friends’ faces when Eddie Royal is drafted, leaving someone by the likes of possible Hall Of Fame inductee Andre Johnson on the sideline. If this were the case Week 4 this season, your pockets may be twice as large.

Had this decision been too unbearable to make, have no fear. There are multiple different configurations of game play including, varying quantity of positional picks, flex positions, and even block features. Players can go from consideration as stud to dud and back again rather quickly depending on the lineup for your Throwdown challenge, and chosen NFL games impacting the depth of the player pool.

In any given Fantasy Throwdown event a drafter has the ability to choose players from three NFL games in a given week. The act of picking the game pool is an art often overlooked. If it is known you have the first draft pick, then be sure you pick up whichever game the Broncos are in, assuming Julius Thomas is healthy and has a favorable match-up.

Being the drafter with the second and third pick is equally as strategic, because if it is known Thomas is going first overall, not only ensure the games picked include another tight-end option but also someone like Brandin Cooks, to then take over the advantage at a different position. Think about these strategies before you pick your favorite teams match-up next week.

Utilizing the flex may seem a bit obvious. You’d like to take whichever available player is going to score the most points right? Sure, if someone like Demaryius Thomas is available, snatch him up, but chances are once it is time to fill the flex slot there will be some questionable options. In this event, begin to think of the flex similar to a block feature, which will be explained in more detail later in the article.

Once the time comes to draft a flex, say Julius Thomas has already been added to a team, and your opponent has decided to wait to draft a tight-end. Now comes the time to crush hopes and dreams of scoring any points at tight end. Draft someone like Vernon Davis, and leave only an array of back-up, low caliber tight ends to choose from.

The block is always difficult to feel good about. Why block a player, completely kicking them out of the game and wasting a draft pick, when you could draft them to your team? There are a few reasons, one being, to cripple a position.

After drafting a player in the flex at a position that is being dominated by your team, another tight-end is unable to be added. With Julius Thomas and Davis on the squad, there is still a great option with Jordan Reed. Block Reed towards the end of your draft, and almost scratch that position from the opponents line-up.

Next comes a unique situation, where a player is questionable as Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles was Week 4, and you aren’t willing to take the chance on him for yourself, but you surely dont want your opponent to own a top 5 running back. Once you’ve confidently filled the running back position with better options, you block him, as done below with Reggie Bush (questionable for Week 7). Had you let him slip you may have gotten hit with 3 touchdowns equivalent to a ton of bricks as Charles owners did to their adversaries Week 4. Ouch!

Playing Fantasy Throwdown is not always about drafting the best team, as much as it is forcing your opponent to draft the worst team. Think ahead as far as possible, asking yourself which position you can get the advantage of, which sleepers you are comfortable with drafting, and when to use the block, if at all. Once you’ve sidelined the generic drafting ideas, and given new light to the idea of Throwdown, your success will improve tenfold. Happy drafting!

But it is completely true. Especially here at Fantasy Throwdown, where we get to play the best darn weekly fantasy football game, amongst the coolest community of fantasy football players going.

We’ve got a great thing going here, and it is finally time to pop the cork on the 2014 season. Week 1 of the NFL season is less than two weeks away!

If you are new to Fantasy Throwdown, welcome! If you love fantasy football, then I think you are really going to enjoy our game format. No salary caps and star-studded lineups here. This is what we love about traditional fantasy football (drafting versus an opponent, head-to-head competition), miniaturized down to a two player, one week event.

Please make sure you read the How To Play section to review a tutorial plus the rules and scoring. Understand how the player pool for your game is formed, and know what the Block is and how it works.

If you wish to play Fantasy Throwdown (individual games, leagues and tournaments) for cash stakes, then start by making a deposit from your My Throwdown page. Please review our Terms of Service to confirm you are eligible. You can play for free, as many individual games as you like.

As a special welcome back and welcome to Throwdown incentive, I removed the rake for all Week 1 individual cash stakes games. If you and your opponent agree to play for a $1 entry fee (each), then the winner earns $2. A $2 entry fee pays $4. This is the same at all five levels. A $20 entry fee pays $40.

If you and your friends like to play Throwdown with some money on the line then take advantage of this special incentive. I can’t run it like this all season!

Once again, whether you are a now seasoned veteran Throwdown player or brand new to the game, thanks for being part of what we are doing here. All questions and feedback are welcome. I’m not difficult to track down via Twitter, Facebook or email. Now lets Throwdown!

Finally we’re back! That did take a little longer for us to open the doors for the 2013 NFL Season than planned, but we are ready to roll now. The time has come to start playing the best dang fantasy football game on the planet – Fantasy Throwdown!

If you’re new around these parts, Fantasy Throwdown is lumped in under that not very catchy umbrella term used by fantasy players, daily / weekly fantasy sports, even though some of us have played Throwdown since before that term even existed. What that term means is our game breaks down a typical fantasy league from a full season competition to a one day or one week event.

For Fantasy Throwdown specifically, we felt it important to keep our game as close to traditional fantasy football as possible, while at the same time enjoying the benefits of it being reduced down to a single NFL week at a time. When you play Fantasy Throwdown, you get:

Head-to-head competition against a single opponent

Pick style draft – the best part of fantasy football – to build your team

Skill based game due to limited player pool for the draft

The benefits are huge for guys and gals who love fantasy football, but find it tough as our lives get busier to keep up with the grind of a full season league. One Throwdown match does not take very long at all. You can challenge a friend, they accept, then get started and finish the draft all inside 10 minutes if both people are online together. Or stretch it out over the week as long as you get the draft done before the first NFL game in your challenge.

Make sure to check the Tutorial and Rules under the “How to Play” link near the bottom of every Throwdown page.

On busy weeks, play just once or take a week off. On less busy weeks, play a half dozen times or more. Find the fit that works for you. Regardless of how many times you play, you will know you are playing fantasy football. Also known as the Greatest. Hobby. Ever.

Then sit back, enjoy the games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday, and check back in to see your points scored and if you beat your opponent. Or just wait for us to email the results. Win or lose, come on back the next week to keep the streak alive or get redemption! We’re going to play Throwdown from Week 1 of the NFL season all the way through to the Super Bowl!

Its a fun time, and this is going to be our most excellent season yet! Welcome, or welcome back! Now lets Throwdown!

A loss of appetite, waking up in the dark of night in a cold sweat, and even the simplest of tasks seems monumental. You don’t know what it is, but you have a vague feeling that something hasn’t been right with your life since February. No longer will you have to endure withdrawal.

That itch you’ve been unable to scratch for the past six months will no longer torment you because Fantasy Throwdown is back and ready to let you draft as much as you like, whenever you like.

Our simple, convenient, free and fast way to draft and compete will let you play daily and on your schedule. Here is a quick refresher for those of you just out of a court-ordered, fantasy 12-step program:

Login to your old account. New players need to register using the “Register And Play For Free” button found on the home page

Challenge another person in our Lobby or enter a friend’s email address

Competitors determine the three NFL games for that week that will comprise the player draft pool

Pick the games and draft order wisely, because the competition can block a player from the draft pool during the draft

Once the games and order is set, draft a starting lineup in minutes or as convenient

Drafts can take as little as 10 minutes when both competitors are online. Or, have a slow draft and use the pre-draft settings. Play standard lineups or IDP, PPR or non-PPR, and enjoy the convenience of live chat. Optionally connect your Fantasy Throwdown account to Twitter and Facebook.

You can feel that rush already, can’t you? Don’t hate the player, or the game. Login today and feed your addiction. You’ll sleep like a baby.

Open Beta is a good way to put it I think. The site still needs some key components – tutorial, expanded contact info, etc. – but for all intents and purposes, we are Live!

It has been a long saga getting Fantasy Throwdown up and running and available for public consumption. I don’t plan on rehashing the whole thing right now, but this is the second time we’ve gone live, and the plan is for Fantasy Throwdown to stick around this time. Hopefully for a good long time.

Give the game a try. Whether you are a hard core fantasy football player, casual player or even just regular football fan who wants to dip their toe into fantasy football, this is the game for you. We think you’ll love the concept, simplicity, challenge and tradition all captured in Fantasy Throwdown.